2012 was a year of considerable personal growth for me, as a person, a photographer and a music fan. As I recounted in my favorite photos of 2012, I got to shoot some of my favorite bands of all time and travel the globe in search of new ones. The beginning of the year was spent dealing with personal drama, and if it werent for key records in my life I shudder to think at where I would be right now. To every band on this list and many who aren't, I cant thank you enough.

First order of business, my musical pallette is much much larger than just a series of metal records. This is NOT a list of my favorite records of the year, because that would surely include other entries from across many different genres. This is, however, a list of some of my favorite heavier records.

To me, the term "heavy" can be defined in many ways, from the elongated riff on a doom record to a noise squall to a particularly punishing punk-rock beatdown. While most of the following records are "heavy" in the traditional "distortion and loud guitars" sense, a few are not. You'll see metal, you'll see deathrock, you'll see raw punk, you'll see hardcore, and many spots in between in the numbered list below. And to answer your question, yes you'll see Swans... right beside D-Clone and Asphyx.

My favorite records of 2012 are below. Hopefully you'll see a connection in favorites or maybe discover something new. Regardless, I hope you found your own favorites of the year whether in this list or outside of it.

Decibel Magazine has compiled their annual list of top 40 albums of the year. As usual, there are some surprises but the 2012 top ten is basically a list of nine veterans with only a single newcomer to the bunch. The full list of top records of the year according to Decibel Magazine is below, along with a tweet from the winning band. Buy your copy HERE.

Seattle's Bell Witch caused quite a stir with their bandcamp demo (available below) that dropped last year, so much so that I included it in my favorites of 2011. That demo lead to the new Longing LP, which will see the light of day via Profound Lore on November 13. Stream an edit of the first song to emerge from that release, "Bails (Of Flesh)," below.

Unlike his other project Samothrace (who cancelled their tour), Dylan Desmond and the rest of Bell Witch are scheduled to play NYC at Acheron on October 16 as part of a round of East Coast dates. All other tour dates, a flyer and those streams are below.

"Samothrace is very sorry to announce that we will have to cancel our part on the upcoming tour with Pallbearer and Royal Thunder due to an immediate illness in the family of a band member. The most important thing right now is family. We are stoked to have had the opportunity to do the tour and will be planning to make our way out east in the near future. We appreciate the understanding."

Wilco play Prospect Park for the second night in a row tonight, with Lee Renaldo opening. Pictures from last night's rainy, bacon-scented show are here. After the show tonight Wilco members can also be found at a "Secret Late Night Gig" (an Autumn Defense show at The McKittrick Hotel).

BrooklynVegan is the proud sponsor of a string of East Coast dates for southern doom gods Pallbearer, who will join forces with the amazing Royal Thunder (who have a new LP and recently played Mercury Lounge) and Samothrace (who have a new LP too). The dates, also sponsored by Scion A/V, include a stop at Hopscotch and a September 11th stop in Brooklyn at Knitting Factory with Richmond black metal/southern groove favorites Inter Arma. Sure to be a night to remember. Tickets for that show are on sale.

Seattle doom crew Samothrace's last LP was nothing short of amazing, and now the band is perparing their new LP for release on 20 Buck Spin. Look for Reverence to Stone on July 31st via the label, and check out the art above.

Xibalba's last LP (that we streamed in full) was the kind of raw-beatdown style hardcore that I could get with. Primal, thick guitar-tone sets this band apart from the pack of current modern hardcore bands, and now you can hear their latest track "Sentenced" from their forthcoming Hasta La Muertevia Pitchfork.

Kayo Dot will hit the road for a short tour in mid-July, including two NYC shows at St. Vitus on 7/11 with Mossenek and MV Carbon (tickets) and Bowery Electric on 7/19 with Triple Cobra & Big Con. Full tour schedule is below.

Profound Lore is also preparing to release the new LP by The Howling Wind, featuring Ryan of Unearthly Trance (who played all of In The Red at Acheron this week) and Tim of Aldebaran (who released their new LP recently). Stream a new song from Of Babylon below.

All suggested shows, video from last night's Dragged into Sunlight show, and more is below. Who will I see at the BV-BBG/Brutal Panda show with Harkonen tonight?

Ya hear that rumble? Thats the sound of great records perched in the distance waiting to descend on 2009 (more on that later). While this year will bring about great music and another set of "next big things", let's take the time to be thankful for 2008 and all of it's memorable records and shows. Here are my favorite records of 2008:

Highly influential black metallers Mayhem have announced that they will tour the US in spring of 2009! The 21 date tour will be announced soon, but in the meantime, look for the band to announce a new guitarist to replace departing axe-slinger Blasphemer. Mayhem's Attila Csihar lent his unholy vokills to the new Jarboe record Mahakali due Oct 14th on The End. Skip on down for video of Thurston Moore discussing Mayhem.

The extremely elusive Japanese doomers (in fact, the above is one of the only pictures I have ever found of them), Corrupted announced a brief West Coast tour with Asunder, check out the flyer here. Asunder's Works Will Come Undone recently dropped on vinyl via Kreation Records, pick it up here. Corrupted's (current? these guys are elusive I tell ya!) bassist Lowell Isles's old band, YOBrecently reformed.

Bloodbath, the death metal supergroup featuring Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (Katatonia), Jonas Renkse (Katatonia), Martin "Axe" Axenrot(ex-Witchery, Opeth), and Per "Sodomizer" Eriksson, will drop their new studio album The Fathomless Mystery on Oct 28th via Peaceville Records. Filled with ""nothing but hateful brutality", check out "Slaughtering The Will To Live" available for download above and stream another track, "Mock The Cross", at their myspace.